Manoj Ranaweera Posts

I like planting seeds publicly and see where it might take us. Today, my focus is to develop Techcelerate into helping Tech Founders grow their Tech (scalable product with recurring revenues) Companies until exit. We’ve actually achieved very little of what I set up to do, but have evolved as we engage with tech founders. I’ve now structured what we offer into Data + Network + Growth & Investment Advisory But two things happened this week which got my brain on fire. I was offered shares in a startup and I started discussions of acquiring a distressed but awesome tech…

The tech evolution started to accelerate at the back end of 20th century. Then we had the dot com bust. Some of those who survived, are ruling the world today. Two of the notable global giants are Salesforce for business and Amazon for consumers. Then in the mid ’00s we saw the emergence of what was known as Web 2.0 technologies. These focused on mixing tech with social. Whilst a large number of tech companies found in those times has hit the dead pool, some have emerged to be global giants. Among them are Facebook and YouTube. Flickr which inspired…

There is a significant danger in promotion of “entrepreneurship” without fully understanding the ups and downs. Where ever you look nowadays, there are so many people calling themselves entrepreneurs or promoting it. It’s a trend. Very few talk about the dangers of it. Don’t get me wrong, we need entrepreneurs to move the society forward. We need them more than ever, given the volatility of the global political system and the climate change. But not everyone can become a successful entrepreneur. I don’t mean success by the number of millions or billions you make it at an exit. You can…

Most of us suffer from incidents in the past. Some suffer from horrific abuses and continue to suffer from those memories today. When I review my past, the incidents I still remember and angry about are so minute, they would barely register on an incident scale, if such a scale existed. Having turned 50 recently, it’s big time I draw a line on these and move on. Obviously one needs to be stronger from the lessons learned and treat those individuals who impacted your life accordingly. But it’s time to move forward.. Just saw someone post the following and thought…

It’s no secret, I turned 50 today and reached the mid point of my life. Instead of talking about under achievements and regret, I want to look forward to the future. But first I want to capture the day. If it’s not written, it did not happen My memory isn’t my greatest asset. And it’s bound to get worse. I believe strongly that if it’s not written, it would be damn hard to remember. Hence writing this post in the first place. Bite-size wisdom: If you are a tech entrepreneur, a founder or a CEO, for god’s sake, write down…

Are you upset that you received no email from me regarding GDPR? Have you checked your spam folder? Fear not, it was never written. I hear your cry.. how dare you not join in the GDPR? It’s kind of a big deal. Well, here’s my rationale. If you land on my world, assume the worst. My world is where ever I or my companies are, online as well as offline. I do use paper and pen from time to time. I still have thousands of business cards unprocessed. Yes, I do meet a lot of folks. We trial and use…

Before you start a chat with Vodafone staff to complain and hopefully rectify your poor broadband service, it’s best to prepare yourself. Here’s what I wish I have done first: Don’t start if your day is already turned out to be disappointing. Make a large cup of tea, coffee or whatever you fancy these days. Alcohol is not recommended. Download Vodafone broadband app to your mobile and activate mobile data. Download few broadband speed analyser test apps. They never display the same speed, so prepare to pull whatever the hair left on your head or elsewhere. Get a screw driver.…

What the heck is 70-20-10 rule you might ask. This came to my head whilst cycling in gorgeous sunny weather in Cheshire (UK) yesterday. I managed to squeeze 109 kms which was the longest ride in 2018 and was shy of 8 kms to break my all time longest. I struggled to agree with myself whether this is in fact 60-30-10 or 70-20-10. Either way, the rationale is as below: Spend 70% (60%) of your time delivering revenue generating work (Customer Delivery). Spend 20% (30%) of your time generating new revenue generating work (Business Development). Spend 10% (10%) of your…

Unfortunately I could not attend the 7th Northern Tech Awards held on 22nd March 2018 in Edinburgh. This was the first event I missed in its 7 year history. Now owned by GP Bullhound, it has grown significantly. Congratulations to all the winners. Top Northern Star (run with Tech North): BigChange Fastest Growing Company of the Year: In Touch Networks Fastest Growing Larger Company of the Year: Evolution Funding Judges’ Innovation Award: Peak AI Judges’ Award for International Success: Purple Judges’ Leadership Award: Sykes Tech4Good Award: Virtual College Judges’ Young Entrepreneur Award: Nicholas Mealey, Connex One Judges’ Entrepreneur Award: Steve Oliver, MusicMagpie Overall Judges’ Award: Performance Horizon The categories…

When I first came across #Linkybrains by Doug Scott, I wondered what Doug was up to now? Doug is known to be a loud-mouth straight-talking prolific angel investor and a successful entrepreneur who used to kill his boredom with a red bandana. Yes, it seems you could do a lot with a scarf, at least get bit closer to be like a pirate just for a second only to realise that you missed the eye patch and forgot to shout ahoy, my hearties. When digging bit further, I also noticed that Chris Tottman of Notion Capital and Alex Dunsdon of Saatchinvest were…